Vehicle front end panel

Details Vehicle front end panel Vehicle front end panel

2001-01-25

2003-04-01

Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)

Motor vehicles

Power

With means to guide and/or control air for power plant cooling

Reexamination Certificate

active

06540037

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle front end panel to which front end components including at least a radiator are assembled.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional front end panel described in JP-A-11-129935, an air guiding duct for introducing air to a radiator is integrated with a front side part of a panel body portion to which the radiator is assembled. However, because the panel body portion and the air guiding duct are simply integrated, the panel body portion may be damaged together with the air guiding duct when a minor vehicle collision is caused. When the panel body portion is damaged in the vehicle, it is necessary to replace the entire front end panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle front end panel which prevents a panel body portion from being damaged during a minor vehicle collision.
According to the present invention, in a vehicle front end panel, a front end member including at least a radiator is assembled to a panel body portion, an air guiding portion for guiding air into the radiator is provided integrally with the panel body portion at a vehicle front side of the panel body portion, and the air guiding portion includes a low strength portion having a mechanical strength lower than that of the panel body portion by a predetermined degree. Therefore, during a minor vehicle collision, the low strength portion is preferentially broken to absorb a collision energy. Thus, collision force applied to the panel body portion can be reduced, and it can prevent the panel body portion from being damaged during a minor vehicle collision.
Preferably, the low strength portion has a wall thickness in the air guiding portion, thinner than that of the other portion. Therefore, the low strength portion can be readily formed to be preferentially broken during a minor vehicle collision.
More preferably, the panel body portion has a fastening portion through which a separated wall part separated from the panel body portion is fastened to the panel body portion to guide air into the radiator. Therefore, when the air guiding portion is broken during a minor vehicle collision, the air guiding portion can be repaired without replacing the entire front end panel. Accordingly, during the minor vehicle collision, the air guiding portion of the front end panel can be readily repaired at low cost.


REFERENCES:
patent: 1633093 (1927-06-01), Gurney
patent: 1816373 (1931-07-01), Higgins
patent: 4566407 (1986-01-01), Peter
patent: 5219016 (1993-06-01), Bolton et al.
patent: 5476138 (1995-12-01), Iwasaki et al.
patent: 2080219 (1982-02-01), None
patent: 2109728 (1990-04-01), None
patent: 2158418 (1990-06-01), None
patent: 2220978 (1990-09-01), None
patent: 11-129935 (1999-05-01), None
US Patent Office Publication 2002/0162695 —dated Nov. 2002.*
US Patent Application 2002/0084122 -dated Jul. 4, 2002.

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